FAB FLOURNOY has been warned that his budget may be slashed as he plans to return Newcastle Eagles to the top of the BBL next season.

The Eagles were handed a tough-looking start to the campaign with the publication of the BBL fixtures yesterday – although there will be an early Trophy derby clash with league newcomers Durham Wildcats.

Flournoy’s men open up with a Trophy game against Glasgow Rocks on September 30 before travelling to Newton Aycliffe to take on Durham on October 1.

But it may be a very different Eagles side that takes to the court in the autumn, with Flournoy aware that his organisation needs to adapt after being dethroned by the Mersey Tigers last year.

The Chronicle understands that the club went £20,000 over budget in their attempts to patch up their injury-jinxed side last season. That figure includes wages for Reggie Jackson, the star guard who made a big difference when he joined in March.

“I’m still waiting to hear from Paul (Blake) but I’m pretty sure the budget will be cut and that’s not a surprise to me,” he said.

“Paul will do whatever he can do, but there’s going to be a lot of cuts that probably will be made and that will decide who we can and can’t bring back and actually go out and get.

“The crazy injury situation didn’t help us last season. We had to add players to cope with it and then there were the physio and doctors bills that we incurred on top of all of that.”

Although Flournoy is anticipating a cut in the budget, he is yet to make any calls on last year’s roster.

Charles Smith is contemplating retirement while long-serving players like Darius Defoe may be at risk too.

Flournoy – who will begin making contact with his existing players to sound them out about next season this week – feels as if this is a “new era” for the Eagles.

“I think last season had the end of an era feel to it, to be honest. All of our summer discussions have centred around how we are going to rebuild the organisation because I think we have to respond to the fact our dominance has been challenged,” Flournoy said.

“It was the 10-year anniversary of me joining as a player and Paul (Blake) said that it would have been nice to mark that with another trophy or another league win. I agree, but we had a hell of a run and now it is about how the organisation grows, because this is the second phase.

“The next phase has to be about a team that will challenge for the same sort of dominance within the next two to five years.”